Can you speak Italian? By now, many of you have passed the beginning stages of learning how to speak Italian and can read and comprehend quite a bit of the language. Meraviglioso!

But have you tried to take the next step to communicate in Italian fluently? Are you comfortable using email to make plans with your family and friends? Can you use the Italian subjunctive mood and Italian reflexive verbs correctly when making plans?

For our second Italian practice email, we will continue with the story of Caterina and Francesca, two Italian cousins who are living in different cities and trying to reconnect. First, we will present a review of how to describe visiting someone using the verb trovare. Then we will present information about Italian reflexive verbs of emotion and of self-action, andthe different meanings of verbs with reflexive and non-reflexive forms. We will also discuss use of Italian prepositions regarding the different places we go in our daily lives and regarding time. Finally, we will describe how to use Italian verbs as nouns.

A note about the Italian subjunctive mood: to express complex feelings in Italian correctly, it is important to use the Italian subjunctive mood. Using the subjunctive mood is difficult for English speakers, because we only rarely use this tense in English, and it’s something that I am always working on! This is the second blog post in the “Italian Practice” series that focuses on how to use the Italian subjunctive mood, or “il congiuntivo,” when writing an email to your family.

To review how to express one’s feelings using thesubjunctive mood and how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in the present tense, see our Speak Italian Subjunctive series.

How many phrases that use the subjunctive mood can you pick out of the following emails? Hint: these phrases usually include the word “che.” Look for the underlined phrases for help! Notice that the future tense does NOT have a subjunctive mood! Also, look for reflexive verbs of emotion and self-action and special phrases of visiting that have been italicized for easier comprehension.

Remember these examples as “anchors” in your knowledge for when you try to speak Italian and try out the subjunctive mood in your next Italian conversation!

Dopo, andiamo a fare la spesa insieme a Capistrello e così posso portare del buon pane a Roma quando torno!Afterward, let’s go grocery shopping together in Capistrello, so I can bring some good bread to Rome when I return!

Ho anche una buona idea—I also have a great idea—

Forse tu puoi venire a trovarmi a Roma e possiamo fare shopping di vestiti.Perhaps you can come to visit me in Rome, and we can go shopping for clothes.

Let’s quickly review how to use the verbs trovare and venire to describe visiting someone, which we covered in detail in our last Italian practice blog post, “Emailing Italian Families.” We will also describe how to use the verb portare when bringing someoneto visit others. Examples will come from the emails in this blog post. Did you notice these italicized phrases as you were reading?

Trovare means “to find”something.

When trovare is combined with the verb andare in the phrase “andare a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to go to visit” someone.

Sono anziani e io dovrei andare a trovarli ogni domenica.

Mi piacerebbe molto andare a trovare i nostri zii in Abruzzo.

Similarly, when trovare is combined with the verb venire in the phrase “venire a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to come to visit” someone.

Also, when trovare is combined with the verb portare in the phrase, “portare a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to bring (someone) to visit” someone.

Per prima cosa, io vorrei portarti a trovare i nostri zii.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…Reflexive Verbs of Emotion

Italian reflexive verbs can be tricky for the English speaker because in many situations, reflexive verbs are used in Italian but not in English. In these cases, we must learn to think in Italian! If we think in Italian, using reflexive verbs to refer to changing emotions that one is feeling at the moment does makes sense.

We have already talked about the most common reflexive verbs in the second blog post in the Speak Italian! series, Speak Italian: All About… What I Am Doing! This blog post describes activities of daily living, which are the most common activities that use the Italian reflexive verbs.

Other activities that involve the changing of one’s emotions during the course of daily life are also reflexive, as in the current blog post, when one cousin talks to the other about her feelings about Rome and taking care of her children. Remember that verbs that translate as “to get” in English are reflexive in Italian!

So, if I “get”/ “am getting” angry, bored, embarrassed,offended, or worried, the verbs used to describe this happening within myself will be reflexive in Italian: arrabbiarsi, annoiarsi, imbarrazzarsi, offendersi, and preoccuparsi.

Verbs of “forgetting” and “remembering” that use the word “about” after the infinitive form in English are also reflexive in Italian. These verbs are followed by the preposition di: dimenticarsi di, scordarsi di (colloquial expression), ricordarsi di.

The following list includes the above verbs, and “a few” more!

accorgersi di/che

to notice or realize (about self/someone or something else)

annoiarsi

to get bored

arrabiarsi

to get angry/mad

aspettarsi

to expect/ to anticipate

confondersi

to get confused

concentrarsi

to concentrate (on something)

dimenticarsi di

to forget about (something)

distrarsi

to be distracted

focalizzarsi

to focus (on something)

imbarrazzarsi

to get embarrassed

interessarsi a

to take an interest in/ to show an interest in

interessarsi di

to take care of/ to be in charge of

offendersi

to get offended

preoccuparsi

to get worried/worry

rendersi conto di/che

to realize (about self/someone or something else)

ricordarsi di

to remember to do

sbronzarsi

to get drunk

scordarsi di

to forget about (something)(colloquial expression)

scusarsi

to excuse oneself

seccarsi

to get annoyed

sentirsi

to feel

sorprendersi

to get surprised

spaventarsi

to get scared

ubriacarsi

to get drunk

vergognarsi

to be ashamed

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Notice that the Italian verb that describes getting bored, annoiarsi, sounds very much like the English word “annoyed.” However, don’t get confused(confondersi)! The Italian verb that means “to get annoyed” is seccarsi.And of course, the verb for to feel in Italian is reflexive—sentirsi, not to be confused with the non-reflexive verb that means to hear—sentire.

Here is how this works. When I want to talk about these emotions as they are happening to me, I must use the reflexive pronoun mi for myself. If I want to talk about emotions that I know are happening to someone else, then I must use the correct corresponding reflexive pronoun/verb conjugation (ti, si, ci, vi, si). Remember to leave out the subject pronoun (io, tu, Lei/lei/lui, noi, voi, loro) unless it is necessary for clarification.

All this is easier than it sounds once you give it a try!

Mi arrabio.
I am/am getting angry.

Ti annoi?*
Are you getting bored?

Lei si imbarrazza!She is getting embarrassed!

Lui si imbarrazza!
He is getting embarrassed!

Ci offendiamo!We are getting offended!

Vi confondete!You all are getting confused!

Loro si seccano.They are getting annoyed.

*The tu and noi forms of arrabiarsi and annoiarsi are irregular and have only one “i” at the ending: tu arrabi e tu annoi.

*************************

You Will Need to Know…How to Use the Past Tense with Reflexive Verbs

Distrarsi is often used in the past tense, as below. In this case, remember to change the “o” ending of the masculine past participle distratto to an “a” ending to make the feminine past participle distratta if needed.

Two other reflexive verbs in our list that are commonly used in the past tense are those of forgetting and remembering: dimenticarsidi and scordarsi di(to forget about something)* and ricordarsi/ricordarsi di (to remember something/to remember to do something).

*The verb scordare means to make an instrument go out of tune. There is some controversy about the use of scordarsi with the meaning of “to forget,” and in effect giving it the same meaning as dimenticarsi; some linguists consider only dimenticarsi correct Italian. That said, to some Italians scordarsi means to forget something in your heart and dimenticarsi to forget something in your mind (i.e. without involving emotion). In actual, everyday use, most Italians probably consider the two interchangeable.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…How to Say, “I realized…” or “I noticed”*

Lastly, we present examples that use the phrases “rendersi conto di/che,” which means “to realize” and “accorgersi di/che,” which can mean both “to realize” and “to notice.”Accorgersi di/che is most often used when something is recognized, but not necessarily understood.

To realize is rendered in Italian with the reflexive verb phrase rendersi conto. In order to say, “I realize,” we must conjugate the verb rendersi, which has a regular -ere conjugation in the present tense, and then add the word conto to finish the phrase. So, “I realize…” is “Io mi rendo conto…” But, of course, we always leave out the Italian subject pronoun, so the phrase that Italians use is conversation is just, “Mi rendo conto…”

To complete the sentence, just add what you realize in the phrase that follows! The following phrase will most commonly be in the present or past tense, but of course, there are times when we may need to use the conditional or future tenses, depending on our realization.

Link what you realize about yourself with the Italian conjugation “di” before adding an infinitive verb. Note: you don’t always have to use “di” in this case if you are talking about yourself. But if you do chose to use “di,” the verb in the next phrase must be in the infinitive form.

—-or—-

Link what you realize about yourself, someone or something else with the Italian conjugation“che”before adding a verb conjugated in the appropriate tense. Remember, if the subject is different in the original phrase and the phrase that follows, you MUST use “che” to link the two phrases.

In English, both “di” and “che” are translated as “that.”

Below are example sentences to show how this all works. These example sentences are true for me. To think of more examples, and try to describe what you realize about yourself!

Mi rendo contodiavere un’ora per preparare la cena.I realize that I have an hour to make dinner.

Mi rendo contocheho un’ora per preparare la cena.
I realize that I have an hour to prepare dinner.

Mi rendo contochehai un’ora per preparare la cena.
I realize that you have an hour to prepare dinner.

Now, let’s say that we recognize something without really understanding what it is about, or what is going on – that is, we notice something. In this case, we can use the reflexive verb accorgersi. This verb also has a regular -ere conjugation and will be followed by either di or che, for the same reasons as we have just described above. To say, “I notice that,” then, use the phrase, “Mi accorgo di/che…”

Again, an example from my life, taking from a time when I was when talking a good friend of mine about a certain movie. Try to think of some examples from your own life!

Mi accorgo che ti piace molto questo film. Vuoi andare a vederlo con me?
I notice that you really like this film. Do you want to go to see it with me?

********************

How to say, “I realize,” or “I notice,” seems simple enough! But wait… we most commonly use the past tense to talk about something that we have realized or have noticed. This, of course, involves conjugating our two verbs in the past tense!

We will use the passato prossimo forms of these verbs for the one time events of realizing or noticing something, which you will remember is formed for reflexive verbs with essere + the past participle. (If you need a general refresher on how to form the passato prossimo, please refer to our book Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Verbs ).

The past participle for rendersi is the irregular verb reso, and the ending will need to change to reflect the speaker when using the passato prossimo.

The past participle for accorgersi is the irregular verb accorto, and the ending will need to change to reflect the speaker when using the passato prossimo.

So, when I want to talk about what I have realized, I can say, “Mi sono resa conto di/che…” Similarly, a male would say, “Mi sono reso conto di/che…”

And, when I want to mention what I have noticed, I can say, “Mi sono accorta di/che…” Similarly, a male would say, “Mi sono accorto di/che…”

To complete the sentence, just add what you have realizedin the phrase that follows! The following phrase will most commonly be in the present or past tense, but of course, there are times when we may need to use the conditional or future tenses, depending on our realization.

Below is a table to summarize these phrases of realizing and noticing. I’ve made the verbs in the phrase green to differentiate them from the other words in the phrase. Most Italians use these verb phrases so frequently, though, that they say them quickly, and the words usually run together in real-time conversation. Listen carefully for these phrases and then try to use them yourself!

Mi rendo conto di/che…

I realize that…

Mi sono reso conto di/che…

I realized that… (male speaker)

Mi sono resa conto di/che…

I realized that… (female speaker)

Mi accorgo di/che…

I notice that…

Mi sono accorto di/che…

I noticed that… (male speaker)

Mi sono accorta di/che…

I noticed that… (female speaker)

We had fun in our Conversational Italian! group “discussing” what we all realized during the year 2017 for our talking point this January. Below are some example sentences that I’ve made up thinking back to New Year’s Eve of 2018. (Notice that as a female I have to use resa and accorta.) How many more examples can you think of?

Ieri sera, a Capodanno, mi sono resa contochesono molto fortunata.
Last night, on New Year’s Eve, I realized that I am very lucky.

Mi sono resa contodiavere amici molto cari.
I realized that I have many dear friends.

Mi sono resa contocheho molti cari amici.
I realized that I have many dear friends.

Mi sono resa contodiavere imparato tante cose importanti dalla mia famiglia.
I realized that I have learned so many important things from my family.

Mi sono resa contocheho imparato tante cose importanti dalla mia famiglia.
I realized that I have learned so many important things from my family.

Mi sono accortacheera molto freddo a Capodanno.
I noticed that it was very cold on New Year’s Eve.

*The past section is a reprint from the blog: Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! What I realized… from ConversationalItalian.wordpress.org, to be published on February 7, 2018.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
Reflexive Verbs of Self-Action

Italian reflexive verbs can be tricky for the English speaker because in many situations, reflexive verbs are used in Italian but not in English. In these cases, we must learn to think in Italian! If we think in Italian, using reflexive verbs to refer to the things we are doing at the moment makes sense.

We have already talked about the most common reflexive verbs in the second blog post in the Speak Italian! series, Speak Italian: All About… What I Am Doing! This blog post describes activities of daily living, which are the most common activities that use the Italian reflexive verbs.

Other activities that involve actions relating to the self are reflexive in Italian. They refer to what a person (oneself) is doing. Here is a short list:

divertirsi

to enjoy oneself/to have fun

divertirsi a

to enjoy… / to play with

incontrarsi

to meet (planned)

informarsi di/su

to ask/inquire about something

nascondersi

to hide

occuparsi di

to work at a job or a task

perdersi

to get/be lost

prepararsi (a)

to get ready (to)

provarsi

to try on clothes

rilassarsi

to relax

riposarsi

to rest

sbrigarsi

to hurry up

sedersi*

to sit down

smarrirsi

to get/be lost

*Sedersi has an irregular conjugation.

*************************

You Will Need to Know…How to Say You are Having Fun
“Divertirsi, Divertente, Divertimento”

One of the most important verbs listed in the last section is divertirsi, which is the verb that Italians use to say that they are enjoying themselves or having fun. There is a lot of fun to be had in Italy, so it is worthwhile to learn how to use this verb, as well as the adverb divertente and the noun divertimento.

To tell someone, “Have a good time!” use the phrase, “Buon divertimento!” To use the verb divertirsi and the adverb divertente see below:

Mi diverto!

I am enjoying myself/having fun!

Mi diverto a guardare la TV (televisione).

I enjoy watching TV.

Mi sono divertito(a)!

I had fun!/I had a good time!

Mi sono proprio divertito(a)!

I really had fun/a good time!

È divertente!

It is fun/entertaining/enjoyable.

È divertente parlare italiano.

It is fun to speak Italian.

Era divertente!

It was fun/entertaining/enjoyable/a good time.

Era proprio divertente!

It was really a lot of fun/entertaining/enjoyable/a good time!

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
“Prendersi Cura di…” and “Occuparsi di…”
Reflexive Phrase of Taking Care

When one person is taking care of another person (or living thing), the reflexive phrase “prendersi cura di…” is used in Italian. The reason that this concept is reflexive in Italian may be that the caring originates within an individual person (myself, for instance), although the action of caring/taking care of is directed at another person. The easiest way to remember this concept is by examples (see below).

The preposition “di” at the end of this phrase must be combined with the definite article (il,la,lo, l’, i, gli, le) if one is not referring to a family member. Also, remember that the subject pronoun is usually left out of the sentence, except for clarification.

When a person is taking care of something, the reflexive phrase “occuparsi di…” is used in Italian. The reason that this concept is reflexive in Italian may be that the caring originates within an individual person (myself, for instance), although the action of caring/taking care of something is directed at something. Often this involves someone’s occupation, but it could also involve just one task.

Da decembre mi occuperò di trovare un nuovo impiegato.From December I will take care/have the task of finding a new worker.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
Different Meanings of Verbs
with Regular and Reflexive Forms

Many Italian verbs have regular and reflexive forms. If the action is directed back toward the speaker, use the reflexive form. For the verbs ricordare and ricordarsi, in most situations, either form may be used. When speaking of something one needs to remember to do, use ricordare di, as we learned in the last chapter, or ricordarsi di.

Note also that the meaning of a verb may change with use of its reflexive form. Chiamare, for instance, means to call someone, as in to make a call on the telephone or to call out to someone.But chiamarsi means to call oneself by name. Sentire refers to the senses, and can mean to hear, to feel (as in to touch something) and also to smell. But the reflexive verb sentirsi has the very different meaning of to feel an emotion.

aspettare

to wait/wait for

aspettarsi

to expect/anticipate

chiamare

to call

chiamarsi

to call onself/to name

fermare

to stop an object

fermarsi

to stop oneself

incontrare

to meet by chance

incontrarsi

planned meeting

informare

to inform/to educate

informarsi di/su

to ask/to inquire

lavare

to wash

lavarsi

to wash oneself

mettere

to put/place

mettersi

to put on clothing

occupare

to be occupied

occuparsi di

to work at a job or a task

essere occupato con…

to be busy with (something)

preparare

to get something ready

prepararsi

to get oneself ready

provare

to try/practice/rehearse

provarsi

to try on clothes

ricordare*

to remember

ricordarsi

to remember something

ricordaredi

to remember to do…

ricordarsidi

to remember to do…

sentire

to hear/to feel (sense of touch)
to smell

sentirsi

to feel (emotions)

spostare

to move

spostarsi

to move oneself

*Incidentally, Romagnol dialect (from the Emiliano-Romangnolo region) for “I remember,” is “amarcord,” which is also the name of a famous Italian comedic film from the 1970s by the director Federico Fellini.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Prepositions “a” and “in” for Places

In English, we go “to” a place or we are “in or “at” a place. In Italian, two prepositions are used to express both where we are going and where we are: “A” and “in” both can mean “to, in, and at.”

Note that in English, the preposition “to” is used to describe the motion of going somewhere, but once a person has arrived where they are going, the prepositions “in” or “at” are used.* So the English preposition changes based on whether one is going to or is in a place.

In Italian, the motion of going to or being in a place does not change preposition use. The preposition is selected depending on the noun that the preposition modifies.

The Italian prepositions are then often (but not always) linked with the Italian definite article (il, la, l’, lo, i, le, gli).

Try as I may, I cannot find a reason for the difference in Italian preposition use for each individual place, although in some cases the Italian use of prepositions seems to mirror British English, rather than American English (the British go “in hospital,” as do the Italians). I guess we have simplified things here in America, across the ocean from the land of our mother tongue!

So therefore, these Italian preposition/noun combinations just need to be memorized. Just link them to the actual place one is going to or one is in and this combination will not change!

See the table below:*

Do you want to go…

Are you…

Vuoi andare…

Sei…

home?

at home?

a casa?

to a restaurant?

at/in the restaurant?

al ristorante?

to a (coffee) bar?

at/in the (coffee) bar?

al bar?

to a cafe?

at/in the cafe?

al café?

to the museum?

at the museum?

al museo?

to the movies?

at the movies?

al cinema?

to the concert?

at the concert?

al concerto?

to the show (performance)?

at the show?

allo spettacolo?

to the show (exhibit)?

at the exhibit?

alla mostra?

to a hospital?

at the hospital?

in ospidale?

to a pizzeria?

at/in the pizzeria?

in pizzeria?

to the piazza?

at/in the piazza?

in piazza?

to church?

at/in church?

in chiesa?

to the beach?

at the beach?

in spiaggia?

to the sea?

at the seaside?

al mare?

to the mountains?

in the mountains?

in montagna?

to the country?

in the country?

in campagna?

*You will notice from this list that the use of the English prepositions “in” and “at” is also a bit idiomatic. To my mind, and I am sure this can be debated, when someone is surrounded by 4 walls or are in some way completely surrounded, they are “in” a place.

An English speaker is always “at home.” If a person has just arrived, or is standing outside the door of a new place, they are “at” this place. If one then wants to emphasize that they have settled down into this new place, i.e. have a table at a restaurant, the preposition “in” then comes into play.

Also, if a person is involved in what is happening at a particular place, they are “in” it; a viewer is “at” a show, but a performer is “in” the show. And, of course, we all stand “in”‘ line before the show or another event begins!

These explanations may be a bit more complicated than needed, though, and I am sure these prepositions are thought of as interchangeable in many situations by English speakers.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Preposition “di” for Time of Day

Sometimes it is necessary to emphasize the time of day in Italian, as in morning, afternoon, evening, or night. This is simple in Italian! Just combine the preposition “di” with the time of day: di mattina, di pomeriggio, di sera, or di notte.

Dopo che andiamo in chiesa di mattina, dobbiamo andare a casa loro.After we go to church in the morning, we should go to their house.

Here are some examples where the time of day is added after stating the numerical time for clarity or for emphasis. (Notice that the Italian language uses a comma rather than a colon to separate the hours from the minutes.)

1,00 (AM) È l’una di mattina.

1,00 (PM) È l’una di pomeriggio.

6,00 (PM) Sono le sei di sera.

10,00 (PM) Sono le dieci di notte.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
How to Use the Italian Infinitive Verb
as a Noun

Every now and then, one needs to use a verb as a noun. In this situation, for the English language, we use the gerund, or “-ing” form, of our verb. For instance, take the sentence, “Reading is fun.” The very first word is the “-ing” form of the verb “to read,” but in this case, the verb is actually the subject of the sentence and is doing the work of a noun!

In the Italian language, the infinitive form of the verb is used when a verb takes the place of a noun. For the present tense, only the infinitive form of the verb is needed. For the past tense, the helping verb will be in the infinitive form before the past participle.

In the email example in this blog post, this occurs in three sentences, which are reprinted below.

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of theConversational Italian for Travelersseries of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Visitlearntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy!Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Can you speak Italian? By now, many of you have passed the beginning stages of learning how to speak Italian and can read and comprehend quite a bit of the language. Meraviglioso!

But have you tried to take the next step to communicate in Italian fluently? Do you know the usual Italian greetings and salutations to use in an email? Can you use the subjunctive mood correctly when writing an email? As everyone knows, email is now an integral part of daily communication all over the world. For Italy, this means that the subjunctive mood is important again in daily life!

For our first Italian practice email using the subjunctive, we will follow the story of Caterina and Francesca, two Italian cousins who are living in different cities and trying to reconnect. Then we will present information about Italian greetings and salutations used in informal and formal types of written communication in Italy. We will describe how to use the verbs trovare, venire, and visitare to describe visiting people and places, how to use the Italian adverb “ci,” and how to make command forms with the verb fare. We will also talk about Italian reflexive verbs of self movement. Finally, we will compare the American and Italian school systems that play such a large part in everyday family life in America and Italy today.

A note about the Italian subjunctive mood: to express complex feelings in Italian correctly, it is important to use the Italian subjunctive mood. Using the subjunctive mood is difficult for English speakers, because we only rarely use this tense in English, and it’s something that I am always working on! This is the first blog post in the “Italian Practice” series that focuses on how to use the Italian subjunctive mood, or “il congiuntivo,” when writing an email to your family.

To review how to express one’s feelings using thesubjunctive mood and how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in the present tense, see our Speak Italian Subjunctive series.

How many phrases that use the subjunctive mood can you pick out of the following emails? Hint: these phrases usually include the word “che.” Look for the underlined phrases for help! And beware those phrases that sound like they should take the subjunctive but do not—these can also be found in the emails below!

Remember these examples as “anchors” in your knowledge for when you try to speak Italian and try out the subjunctive mood in your next Italian conversation!

Italian Practice Email: All about… FamilyAn Email to Francesca

Cara cugina Francesca,
Dear Cousin Frances,

Quanto tempo è passato da quando ti sei trasferita dall’Abruzzo a Roma!
How much time has passed since you have moved from Abruzzo to Rome!

Spero che tu stia bene.
I hope that you are well.

Spero anche che tuo marito e i tuoi figli stiano bene.
I also hope that your husband and children are well.

È peccato che tu e la tua famiglia vi siate trasferiti cosi lontano da vostra cugina che vi vuole bene.
It is a shame that you and your family have moved so far from your cousin that cares for you all so much.

Ma non sono sicura che tu sia felice di vivere là.
But I am not sure that you are happy living there.

Forse tu sei felice di vivere in una città per un po’ di tempo, ma lo so che ti piace molto la campagna.
Maybe you are happy living for a little bit in the city, but I know that you like the country a lot.

Spero che tu abbia un buon weekend!I hope that you have a good weekend!

Scrivimi presto!Write me soon!

Baci e abbracci,Kisses and hugs,

CaterinaKathy

Italian Practice Email: All about… FamilyA Reply Email to Caterina

Cara cugina Caterina,
Dear Cousin Kathy,

Ero molto contenta di sentire le tue notizie.
I was very happy to hear from you.

La mia famiglia sta molto bene, ed Eleonora e Giovanni sono cresciuti molto in questi due anni che siamo stati a Roma.My family is very well, and Eleanor and John have grown in these last two years that we have been in Rome.

Eleanora fa il quinto anno di scuola elementare e Giovanni fa il primo anno di liceo.Eleanor is in the 5th grade, and John is in his first year of high school.

Tutti e due sono bravi figli ed io e mio marito Giuseppe siamo molto orgogliosi di loro.
Both are good children, and my husband Joe and I are very proud of them.

Ho una buona notizia!I have good news!

Sono libera di viaggiare in Abruzzo quest’estate in agosto per Ferragosto!
I am free to travel to Abruzzo this summer in August for the Ferragosto holiday!

Verbs in Italian can have a subjunctive mood that is used to express doubt, uncertainty, desire, or a feeling.

Certain phrases are commonly used to start a sentence in order to introduce the subjunctive mood, and these initial phrases will be in the indicative tense (the “usual” present or past tense). These initial phrases imply uncertainty and trigger the subjunctive mood in the phrase to follow. The phrase that follows will then describe what the uncertainty is about. These introductory phrases usually end with the word che, which means that. Che may also bethe endingof the last word used in the introductory phrase!

Note that the simple present or past tenses can also be used after the introductory phrases listed below, rather than the subjunctive mood, if you are speaking about a fact or something that you believe to be true. This use will make perfect sense to the Italian listener, although the subjective mood is also commonly used. Notice that when speaking about the past using these phrases, the imperfetto form of the past tense is usually used.

To review how to express one’s feelings using thesubjunctive mood and how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in the present tense, see our Speak Italian Subjunctive series.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…Italian Greetings for Family Emails, Texts, and Letters

Now that email has become an essential way to communicate, it is important to know how to address family, friends, and work colleagues in writing. In effect, that old-fashioned way of communicating—the letter—has been resurrected in electronic form! Here are some suggestions for greetings and salutations in Italian, depending on the formality of the situation.

For family and friends, most Italian emails will begin with “Cara,” for females or “Caro” for males, meaning “Dear.” This greeting is, of course, followed by the first name of the person to whom the email is addressed. Because caro is an adjective, the ending can be modified to match the gender and number of the person it refers to, just as other adjectives are. So cara(e) is used before a female singular/plural person(s) and caro(i) before male singular/plural person(s). Carissimo(a,i,e) is a common variation and means “Dearest.” Many times, no greeting at all is used for close family and friends who communicate frequently.

A note about texting, which is even more informal than email, because texts are usually made only to friends: there is much more variation if a greeting is used, and there are many creative ways to greet someone by text in Italian. One of the most common text greetings is probably “ciao” for “hi” or “bye.” There are many common variations, such as “ciao bella” for a female, “ciao bello” for a male, or simply “bella” or “bellezza” for a female, all meaning “hello beautiful/handsome.” If texting in the day or evening, “Buon giorno” or “Buona sera” may be used as well, meaning, “Good morning/Good day” or “Good evening.”

A text is still not acceptable in most situations for a first or a formal communication, although email is now often the preferred way of establishing an initial contact in business.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Greetings for Formal Emails and Letters

Letters are still frequently used in Italy. Several common salutations are used when writing a formal email in Italian. These salutations have been established over many centuries of formal communication.

A formal Italian letter will commonly begin with the Italian word for “Gentle,” which is “Gentile,” followed by a title, such as Mr., Mrs., or Miss, and then a surname. For example: Gentile Signor* Verde or Gentilissima Signora Russo. The Italian word “Egregio,” which used to mean “Esquire,” is still commonly used in very formal business communications, but in these instances, it is translated as “Dear.” “Pregiatissimo” is the most formal type of greeting and is similar to the English phrase “Dear Sir.” This greeting is only rarely used in Italy today.

This all seems simple enough, although a typical formal Italian greeting is often abbreviated and can seem a bit off-putting unless one is fluent in the abbreviations as well. Our salutations above are often written as follows: Gentile Sig. Verde and Gen.ma Sig.na Russo. The table in the next section lists the most commonly used abbreviations.

Also, in Italian, even more than in English, if one holds a professional title, such as “doctor” or “lawyer,” this title is always used as the form of address when speaking and in writing. In fact, those who have attended an Italian university or have an important job title are usually addressed by other Italians as “dottore” or “dottoressa.” A medical doctor is addressed the same way but is known specifically as “un medico” (used for men and women).

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…Commonly Used Italian Abbreviations for Business Greetings

Avv.

Avvocato

Lawyer

Dott.

Dottore

Doctor (male or female)

Dott.ssa

Dottoressa

Female Doctor

Egr.

Egregio

Dear (Esquire)

Ingegnere

Engineer

Gent.mi

Gentilissimi(e)

Dear (plural) Very Kind

Gent.mo

Gentilissimo(a)

Dear (singular) Very Kind

Preg.

Pregiatissimo

Dear

Sig.

Signor

Mister (Mr.)

Sig.na

Signorina

Miss

Sig.ra

Signorma

Misses (Mrs.)

Sig.ri

Signori

Mr. and Mrs./Messers

Spett.

Spettabile

Messers

*When signore is followed by someone’s first or last name, in writing and when addressing someone directly, the “e” from signore is dropped to form signor.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:
Italian Salutations for Emails, Texts, and Letters

After we’ve written our email, text, or formal letter, how should we sign off? As you can imagine, this is very different depending on how close the two correspondents are. For two friends, the typical spoken salutations, “ciao” and “ci vediamo,” are commonly used for emails and texts, as are the many idiomatic expressions, such as “a presto” or “a dopo.”

For those who are close friends or family, one may send kisses as “baci,” and sometimes hugs, “abbracci,” as we do in English. You can imagine that there are many variations on this theme, such as “un bacione” for “a big kiss.”“Un bacio” or “tanti baci” are other variations and mean “a kiss” and “many kisses.” There is one big difference between salutations in English and Italian, though: Italians normally do not sign off with the word “Love,” as in “Love, Kathy.”

For business, the word “Saluti” is generally used in closing to mean “Regards.” One can also give “Un Saluto” or “Tanti Saluti.”“Cordalimente” means “Yours Truly.” “Cordali saluti” or “Distinti Saluti” are particularly polite, meaning “Kind Regards” and “Best Regards.”“Sinceramente” means “Sincerely” but is not as often used in closing an email or letter.

Commonly Used Familiar Italian Salutations

Ciao

Bye

Ci vediamo

Good bye
(Until we see each other again.)

A presto!

See you soon!

A dopo!

See you later!

Baci

Kisses

Un bacio

A kiss

Un bacione

A big kiss

Tanti baci

Lots of kisses

Baci e Abbracci

Kisses and hugs

Commonly Used Formal Italian Salutations

Saluti

Regards

Un Saluto

Regards

Cordalimente

Yours truly

Cordali Saluti

Kind regards

Distinti Saluti

Best regards

Tanti Saluti

Many regards

Sinceramente

Sincerely

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
How to Use Trovare, Trovarsi and Visitare

Trovare means “to find”something.

When trovare is combined with the verb andare in the phrase “andare a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to go to visit” someone. An example would be, “Vado a trovare mia mamma,” which of course means, “I go to visit my mother.”

Similarly, when trovare is combined with the verb venire in the phrase “venire a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to come to visit” someone. In the email we have just read, Caterina writes, “Vorrei che tu venga a trovarmi in Abruzzo quest’estate.” She adds “mi” to the end of the verb trovare in order to specify the person who is being visited.

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Visitare means to visit or to see a place. For example, “Molte persone visitano l’Italia.”“Many people visit Italy.”

In a formal letter, one might use the phrase, “invitare a visitare,” to invite someone, to be a guest as in, “Vi invitiamo a visitare il nostro blog…” for, ” We kindly invite you to visit our blog.”

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Let’s go back and explore a few more interesting points about the verb trovare. Trovare can also mean “to meet by chance,” or “to run into” someone, as we would say in English. Trovare sometimes means “to think/consider” and is also used to mean “to notice” in some expressions. Trovarsi is a reflexive verb that is used to describe “finding oneself” in certain situations or in a certain place.

andare a trovare

to go to visit with/to look in on/to look up

venire a trovare

to come to visit with

cercare di trovare

to try to find

trovare per caso

to happen on/to happen upon/to come across

torvare i mezzi

to find means

trovare conforto

to take comfort

trovare informazioni su

to find information (something) on

trovare la propria strada

to make your way/to take the right road

trovare la risposta

to find the answer

trovare la soluzione

to find the solution

trovare il tempo per fare

to get around to doing something

trovare il giusto equilibrio

to strike a balance

trovare (qualcosa) divertente

to find (something) amusing

trovare qualcosa

to consider something

trovare un modo

to find a way

Dove si trova?

Where is she/he/it located?

Si trova in…

(He/she/it) is located in…

Non mi trovo bene con..

I don’t get on well with…

Troviamoci dopo cena.

Let’s meet (each other) after dinner.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:How to Use the Italian Adverb “Ci”

The phrases c’è and ci sono mean there is and there are respectively. Ci can also be used to mean here or there when referring to a specific location. The location is either understood by the speakers or will have already have been mentioned in the conversation, and ci will be used in a reply to make the conversation flow more smoothly. In these instances, the location will be introduced by a preposition (a, in, su, da) and ci will replace both the preposition and the place when given in the reply.

Ci is placed before the conjugated verb. With helping verbs dovere, potere, or volere, ci can be placed before the helping verb or attached to the infinitive.

Non ci voglio più stare.

(I) don’t want to stay here anymore.

Vai in pizzeria stasera?

(Are) (you fam.) going to a pizzeria tonight?

No, non civado.

No, (I’m) not going there.

Ci sarò.

I’ll be there.

Vuoi venire a casa mia?

(Do) (you fam.) want to come to my house?

No, non ci voglio venire.

No, (I) don’t want to come there.

No, non voglio venirci.

No, (I) don’t want to come there.

Ci is frequently used as an indirect object to reply to certain questions regarding what someone believes in. “Credere a…?” which means, “Do you believe in…?” is one of the most commonly used phrases of this type.In this case, ci replaces the phrase that is believed in. The meaning of ci would be, “in it” or “about it.”

Ci is also used as an indirect object to reply to certain questions regarding what someone thinks about. “Pensare a…?” can mean, “What do you think about…?” In this case, ci replaces the phrase that is believed in. The meaning of ci would be, “in it” or “about it.”

In other contexts, the verb pensare can be used to ask if someone is going to care of something. The subject pronoun tu will come after the verb in these questions to signify intent. For the response, ci replaces the thing that is being taken care of and the subject pronoun io is placed after the verb to signify intent. The meaning of ci in both cases is, “in it” or “about it.” “Ci penso io,” can always be used when you want to say, “I’ll do it.” or “I’ll take care of it.”

Ci is also used as part of a command in order to ask someone to believe in or think about something that has been stated previously.

Credi alla religione cristiana?

(Do)(you fam.) believe in the Christian religion?

Si, cicredo.

Yes, (I) believe in it.

Pensi di trovare un nuovo lavoro?

Are you thinking of finding a new job?

Si, ci penso ancora.

Yes, I am still thinking about it.

Caterina, ci pensi tu a comprare il latte?

Kathy, are you going to take care of buying the milk?

Ci penso io.

I’ll take care of it.

Credici!

Believe in it! (familiar command)

Pensaci!

Think about it! (familiar command)

Ci mancherebbe.

Don’t mention it. (idiomatic expression)

Finally, if we want to combine ci with a direct object pronoun in a sentence to say ,“I’ve got it,” or “I’ve got them,” referring to something in our possession, the last letter-i of ci is changed to an e. This is an expression that follows the word order “ce – direct object – verb.” See below for how this works:

Do you have the ticket in your purse?

Haiil biglietto nella tua borsa?

Yes, I have it in my purse.

Si, l’ho nella borsa.

Yes, I’ve got it.

Si, ce l’ho.

Do you have the keys to your car?

Hai le chiavialla tua macchina?

Yes, I have them.

Si, cele ho.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You will need to know:Common Italian Command Forms with Fare

The verb fare, which means “to do,” or “to make,” often comes up when one person makes a direct request that another person do something. To ask for a favor politely, you could use the (by now, well-known) verb può with fare to make the phrase, “Può farmi un favore?” for, “Could you do me a favor?” But, more often, the familiar command form of this phrase is used; if one is instructing another person to do something, both people often know each other very well. Or, perhaps in the workplace, a superior is making a request of another worker. In this case, the commonly used phrase used would be, “Fammi un favore!” for, “Do me a favor! Piacere also works interchangeably with favore in this expression, as in, “Fammi un piacere!”

Notice that, when attaching a direct object (mi, ti, lo, la, ci, vi) to the familiar command verb fa, the first letter of the direct object is doubled. Below are some commonly used expressions which combine the command form of fare with direct object pronouns.

Fammi un favore!

Do me a favor!

Fammi un piacere!

Do me a favor!

Fatti vedere!

Come and see me! (lit. Make yourself seen!)

Fatti sentire!

Call me! (lit. Make yourself heard!)

Fallo!

Do it!

Fammi can also be used in an idiomatic way, with the meaning, “let me,” when followed by an infinitive verb, such as, “Fammi vedere,” for, “Let me see,” or, “Fammi chiamare,” for, “Let me call.”

Fammi vedere…

Let me see…

Fammi chiamare…

Let me call…

Two additional commonly used familiar commands with direct objects involve the verbs dire and dare:

Dimmi!

Tell me!

Dammi!

Give me!

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:
Italian Reflexive Verbs for Self-Movement

Italian reflexive verbs can be tricky for the English speaker because there are many situations where reflexive verbs are used in Italian but not in English. In these cases, we must learn to think in Italian! If we think in Italian, using reflexive verbs to refer to where one has moved to or from or to describe a change in one’s feelings does make sense.

We have already talked about the most common reflexive verbs in the second blog post in the Speak Italian! series, Speak Italian: All About… What I Am Doing! This blog post describes activities of daily living, which are the most common activities that use the Italian reflexive verbs.

Other activities of today’s “modern daily living” include interrupting one’s life at a certain location and starting life again in a different location. In this blog post, for instance, one cousin moves from Abruzzo to Rome. It makes sense, then, that the verb for the act of movingoneself is reflexive: trasferirsi, which can mean “to move (oneself) from town to another town” and “to transfer (oneself).”

Following this logic, the more general verbs “to move”(muoversi) or “to stop” (fermarsi) are also reflexive when they refer to an action that is being performed by a person.

Avvicinarsi a (to approach) alontanarsi da (to go away from/distance oneself from) are also included in the table below.

trasferirsi

to move (oneself), as in relocate towns; transfer towns or job

muoversi

to move (oneself) from one place to another

spostarsi

to move (oneself) from one place to another, relocate

dirigersi

to go over/head over somewhere

avvicinarsi a

to approach

allontarsi da

to go away from/distance oneself from

fermarsi

to stop (oneself)

Here is the way this works: if I have moved (myself) from one place to another and want to talk about this, I use the reflexive pronoun for myself (mi) with the conjugated verb for the first person, and then I say where I have moved. If someone else has moved (themselves), and I want to talk about this, I use the other corresponding reflexive pronoun (ti, si, ci, vi, si)/verb conjugation and then the location.

A few pointers are useful to remember.

When talking about a move we have made, we will be speaking in the past tense and will need to use the passato prossimo past tense verb form for this one-time event. All reflexive passato prossimo verbs use essere as the helping verb with the past participle. Females will need to change the passato prossimo ending from an “o” to “a” when referring to themselves.

Also, remember to leave out the subject pronoun (io, tu, Lei/lei/lui, noi, voi, loro) unless it is necessary for clarification.

Finally, remember how to use prepositions when talking about a location—“a” for cities and small islands and “in” for countries, regions, states in the United States, and large islands like Sicily.

All of this is easier than it sounds once you give it a try!

Mi sono trasferito(a) a New York.*
I moved/have moved to New York City.

Ti sei trasferito(a) nello stato di New York due anni fa, corretto?
You moved/have moved to New York State two years ago, correct?

Finally, it should be noted that there are other ways of describing a person’s move from one place to another that do not involve reflexive verbs. To emphasize that one has moved from an old house to a new one, the phrase cambiare casa is used. To describe moving furniture from one’s old house to the new house (i.e., to move things), the nonreflexive verb traslocare is used.

The Italian school system is similar to the U.S. school system. School years are divided into primary, middle, and secondary, or “high” school years. College is referred to as “university,” and in the past, a “university degree” entailed 6 years of education, similar to a master’s degree in the United States. Some 4-year university degrees are now also available in Italy. Below is a comparative list of the American and Italian school systems with the number of years children spend in each level.

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of theConversational Italian for Travelersseries of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Visitlearntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy!Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC